Sanofi makes $9.3 billion bid for American firm Medivation

PARIS (AP) — Drug maker Sanofi made a $9.3 billion bid for San Francisco pharmaceutical firm Medivation on Thursday, part of the firm's effort to expand its portfolio of cancer treatments.

Medivation Inc. has so far resisted overtures from Paris-based Sanofi, which is seeking to compete with the likes of America's Bristol-Myers Squibb, Switzerland's Roche and Britain's AstraZeneca, all three of whom have poured money into cancer drug research.

In an effort to push Medivation to respond, Sanofi published an open letter from its chief executive, Olivier Brandicourt, to Medivation's CEO David T. Hung.

In it, Brandicourt says that the all-cash offer is for $52.50 per share, representing a premium of over 50 percent to the two-month average share price of Medivation. He argues that the deal would give Medivation's cancer treatments — notably Xtandi — the benefit of Sanofi's "global capabilities (and) significant resources."

"We believe a combination would benefit patients and, at the same time, generate value for shareholders of both companies," said Brandicourt in a separate company statement.

Shares in Medivation jumped 8.1 percent to $56.28 in New York.

Medivation responded in a statement that its board of directors would meet Thursday to weigh Sanofi's unsolicited offer and decide whether to recommend it to shareholders.

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This story has been corrected to show the name of the drug is Xtandi, not Xtrandi.